Barack Obama Executive Amnesty May Alienate Liberal Base

I’ve already mentioned recently that there is big money behind the push for Barack Obama to use an unconstitutional executive order to nullify Congressional legislation and give amnesty to illegal immigrants.

But what about the Liberal base?

The assumption has been made that the Democrat rank-and-file are completely behind the President’s promise to give amnesty to illegal aliens. But what about Oregon?

The Associated Press reports, “Oregon immigration vote is a warning for Obama.”

The fate of a little-noticed ballot measure in strongly Democratic Oregon serves as a warning to President Barack Obama and his party about the political perils of immigration policy.

Even as Oregon voters were legalizing recreational marijuana and expanding Democratic majorities in state government, they decided by a margin of 66-34 to cancel a new state law that would have provided driver’s licenses to people who are in the United States illegally.

[…]

“The Oregon measure tells you these measures are not easy or simple,” said Muzaffar Chishti of the Migration Policy Institute. “The political cost may be significant, even in blue states.”

The state law had seemed to be popular. It easily passed last year with bipartisan support in the Democratic-controlled Legislature and was signed Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber, who was re-elected Nov. 4.

Still, the measure failed in every county but the state’s most liberal one, Multnomah, home to Portland. Even there it trailed significantly behind other Democratic candidates and causes.

“It was really the epitome of a grassroots effort,” said Cynthia Kendoll, one of the activists who led the campaign against licenses. “There’s such a disconnect between what people really want and what’s happening.”

I don’t think this means that these people are opposed to all forms of immigration “reform.” But I think they know it is wrong to have laws on the books and then pass other laws that break those laws. If illegal immigrants should be legal, then legalize them. Don’t leave the law in place and then obstruct its enforcement with other laws.

I may be wrong but that makes the most sense.

And if that is what is going on, then Democratic voters might well be angered by an unconstitutional executive order that obstructs the real law of the land.